Roster focus: Avery Bradle

By Gary Dzen, Boston.com Staff

We're profiling every player on the Celtics roster before training camp begins. Today it's Avery Bradley.

Avery Bradley
Starting shooting guard
6-feet-2-inches, 180 pounds, 21-years-old
2012/13 salary: $1.6 million

Strengths: Defense, defense, defense. Bradley is a force of nature on the ball. His lateral quickness makes him one of the NBA's best backcourt defenders. Bradley was also an efficient offensive player in 2011-12, making 49 percent of his field goals and 41 percent of his 3-pointers.

Room to improve: There's no shame in saying a 21-year-old can get better. Bradley can up his scoring average by taking more shots, something he should do this season with increased minutes. Another area where Bradley can get better is running the team with Rajon Rondo off the floor. Bradley (1.4 assists per game last season) is not really a facilitator. He's also not a typical shooting guard, so facilitating will be key in getting more playing time.

Projections for 2012/13: 70 games, 10.2 points, 1.5 steals, 24.5 minutes

Outlook: Bradley may miss the start of the season while recovering from surgeries on both shoulders. In any case, the Celtics are likely to ease him back into game play. Besides that, it's all upside. Bradley will get better as he gains more NBA experience, and the Celtics will play him more minutes. The addition of Jason Terry also gives the Celtics a facilitator off the bench, freeing up Bradley to be himself even more. His minutes per game could be way up by season's end.

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Hi,
As I mentioned in the comments for the article, I'm puzzled how the author projected 70 games for AB if he's supposed to start playing only in mid-December?

I doubt that AB's minutes will "be way up by the season's end". He has to share the time with CL and JT. Actually, it'll be very interesting how Doc manages combinations and PT of the Celtics' back-court.

AK